A history of the discovery of this river from the interior, has been already given; but Orellana was not the first who explored it. Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who accompanied Columbus in his first voyage, was the person by whom this was achieved. At his own expence, he fitted out four vessels in Spain, in 1499, and sailed to the Canaries; passing Cape Verde, he steered directly west, till on the 26th January 1500, when he saw the land, which he named Cabo de Consolacion (now called Cape St. Augustine); landing here, and viewing the country, he determined to coast along its shores, until he at last found himself in a fresh water sea, and advancing further, he discovered the islands at the mouth of the river, and trading with the Indians who inhabited its banks, he called it by what he heard them name it, the Maranon. This discovery was followed by that of Orellana from the interior, in 1540. In 1559, Pedro de Orsua endeavoured to trace the route of Orellana, but was killed by the Indians. In 1602, Rafael Ferrer explored the river for a short space, and gave the first account of the nations on its shores. In 1616, some soldiers, pursuing the Indians, fell in with the False Maranon, and went down it in canoes; on their return, and in consequence of what they reported, Baca de Vega was appointed governor of Maynas, in 1618. Some missionaries afterwards proceeded as far as Para in Brasil, from whence they were dispatched with a flotilla of boats, to re-ascend and explore the banks of the river. They departed on the 28th of October 1637, and reached Palamino in Quixos, on the 24th June 1638. In consequence of this voyage, the flotilla was ordered to return to Para, with several intelligent persons on board, who were to make a further survey, and then proceed by way of the Portuguese territory, to Spain. They accordingly set out from Quito, on the 16th of February 1639, and reached Grand Para, after a voyage of ten months; whence they crossed the Atlantic to Europe. The missionaries now exerted themselves to form settlements, but none so arduously as Father Fritz, who sailed down the river from Maynas to Para, in 1689, and returned by the same route, in 1691; he subsequently visited most of the rivers which flow into the False Maranon, as well as some of those down to the Negro, which fall into the genuine river, and drew a map of these, which was engraved at Quito, in 1707. Father Girval explored the Ucayale, or True Maranon, in 1794, extracts from whose account will appear in the description of Peru.